How to Find Out Speeding Ticket History

Traffic tickets, especially old ones, can be a skeleton in your closet whenever your driving record is reviewed. Particularly, they can have a negative impact on the car insurance rates for which you are eligible. Depending on the period of time that has elapsed since you received your ticket, it could disqualify you from all but the highest premium policies. Fortunately, there are tools at your disposal to find out about these old tickets before applying for new insurance rates, allowing you to know what to expect.

Things You'll Need

Driver's license number

Go to the official website of the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state where you live. If you have ever lived in another state, you will need to go to the DMV site for that state as well. A listing of all of the state DMV websites can be found in the References section.

Depending on the state, you may see a field on the homepage that allows you to type in your question. Type in "How do I obtain my driving record?" and specific instructions will show up. You will need to provide the following necessary information that will vary by state, but will include your driver's license number, as well as several other types of personal information. For example, Pennsylvania requires your date of birth and the last four digits of your social security number.

On other states' websites, you might see a link entitled "Order a Driver's History" from the list of available driver's services. Click on that to get details.

Select the applicable Driver's History length you wish to order. For example, Arizona offers a 3-year and 5-year history.

Proceed to your shopping cart and complete the checkout process. Some states will allow you to view your Driver's History online, while others will require you to wait for it to arrive in the mail.

Tips & Warnings

If your state does not offer an option to order an online Driver's History, you may be able to order your history at Drivingrecord.org. This option costs $29.95, however, which is more than this service will cost at the DMV.

If you cannot order directly online or at Drivingrecord.org, then you will either need to go to your DMV or request a Driver's History by mail. To determine what methods your state offers, click the link in the References section titled "DMV.org Driving Record Information for Each State."

Your Driver's History will not contain the number of points put on your license for each traffic violation. It will only inform you of the citations you have received.